Nonprofit galas still reaping big bucks

The spring gala season for nonprofits was not a bust. And that’s big news.

Nonprofits are showing recession-defying zeal and, once again, have avoided financial doom. Local organizations have stared down predictions of sharp falloffs in revenue, in some cases surpassing their goals.

But these victories have come at a cost.

Boston’s nonprofit leaders are finding that arm-twisting and penny pinching is what it takes to hold a successful recession-year event. Yet, even when faced with the prospect of pushing board members harder to network and risking that tickets and tables will not sell, leaders of most organizations have determined that foregoing their fundraisers is not an option.

That’s because not having a fundraiser poses a bigger risk: the loss of much-needed revenue and the opportunity to raise awareness about an organization’s programs.

“It’s huge,” said Joan Archer, the vice president overseeing development for Newton-Wellesley Hospital. The hospital’s charitable foundation held its 10th annual fundraiser in May, generating about 12 percent of the hospital’s foundation’s $6.5 million fundraising goal for 2009. “After that gala, I’ve closed on several major gifts. Once I had 800 people there, it wasn’t just about cocktails and dancing. I had to seize the opportunity to do some serious messaging.”

Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, for one, is on the social docket this week, with a goal of selling between 250 and 300 tickets for a champagne barbecue under a tent in its Roxbury parking lot. So far, 250 tickets are sold.

“We felt that this is more than a fundraiser. It’s an awareness raiser. We wanted to give it our full effort,” said Carol Ishkanian, vice president of development and external affairs.

Board members and development staffs have been working hard and working every personal and professional relationship they can. “If you don’t have that core group of volunteer champions, it’s going to be really hard to run a successful fundraiser,” said Chuck Gordon, chief development officer for City Year Inc., which recently held its Starry Starry Night event.

And board members have been sharpening their message, explaining time and again why buying a $5,000 or $10,000 table is more critical this year.

“My sense was that it took two or three or times the effort to get the same level of dollars,” said Sandy Edgerley, chairwoman of the board at Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, which held its annual house party fundraiser in early May. The event raised more than $1.6 million, which was the goal it needed to meet the organization’s $14.4 million operating budget. “The board came together and said there’s a very real cost to not making the goal.”

Revenue from most of these springtime events is on par with last year, some even hitting higher than their fundraising goals.

When the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley canceled its annual Lawyer’s Leadership breakfast in late March eyebrows raised and tongues wagged. The decision, a United Way spokeswoman said, had nothing to do with finances.

Some nonprofit leaders said they gave long consideration to the wisdom of holding a gala, though they did, in the end, move forward. “Pulling the rug out from underneath the event — it’s not investing in the future. It’s not long-term. It’s not smart,” said Bryan Rafanelli, founder of Rafanelli Events, who works with many nonprofits.

Archer, for one, “dug deep” and met individually with many of the hospital foundation’s large donors to gauge their support before she proceeded with the Newton-Wellesley event.

“I asked them very honestly if this was something they could continue supporting,” Archer said.

If there is a dollar drop-off anywhere, it is with the table sponsorships, again forcing organizations to work harder to make up the difference.

“If someone sponsored $10,000 last year, and this year only $5,000, you’ve got your work cut out for you,” said Judy Harrington, development director for Boston Partners in Education. The organization’s late April fundraiser at the Intercontinental Hotel, marking the 5th anniversary of the Big Cheese Reads, raised $215,000, about the same as in 2008, she said. While the number of sponsorships increased, she said, the dollar amounts decreased. “We worked harder for it.”

Unexpected twists have helped. A group of Bain Capital Partners executives who have strong connections with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston — one of them a board member — together put up $225,000 before the organization’s recent house party and challenged their Bain colleagues to a one-to-one match.

Similarly, during Big Sister Association of Greater Boston’s April fundraiser at Radius, owner and chef Michael Schlow suddenly offered to treat any group of four to dinner at a half dozen restaurants if the group donated $10,000 to Big Sister. Two groups stepped forward and Big Sisters raised $20,000, bringing the event total to $120,000, within $5,000 of last year.

Separate from the work of boards and supporters, though no less important, this year’s fundraisers in part have survived on cost savings. Every organization has a laundry list of cuts: gifts for guests, fancy table linens, high-priced hors d’oeuvres, glitzy decorations and the like.

The trick has been to retain quality at a much lower price tag.

City Year, for example, slashed its Starry Starry Night budget by 40 percent, largely by moving the event to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Expensive floral arrangements – out. Tables were decorated with homemade centerpieces designed from City Year memorabilia. Instead of expensive food, the pre-dinner reception featured a Fenway menu: hot dogs, popcorn, Cracker Jacks.